(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released newly obtained internal IRS documents, including material revealing that Sen. John McCain’s former staff director and chief counsel on the Senate Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee, Henry Kerner, urged top IRS officials, including then-director of exempt organizations Lois Lerner, to “audit so many that it becomes financially ruinous.” Kerner was appointed by President Trump as Special Counsel for the United States Office of Special Counsel.
The explosive exchange was contained in notes taken by IRS employees at an April 30, 2013, meeting between Kerner, Lerner, and other high-ranking IRS officials. Just ten days following the meeting, former IRS director of exempt organizations Lois Lerner admitted that the IRS had a policy of improperly and deliberately delaying applications for tax-exempt status from conservative non-profit groups.
Lerner and other IRS officials met with select top staffers from the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee in a “marathon” meeting to discuss concerns raised by both Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) that the IRS was not reining in political advocacy groups in response to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Senator McCain had been the chief sponsor of the McCain-Feingold Act and called the Citizens United decision, which overturned portions of the Act, one of the “worst decisions I have ever seen.”
In the full notes of an April 30 meeting, McCain’s high-ranking staffer Kerner recommends harassing non-profit groups until they are unable to continue operating. Kerner tells Lerner, Steve Miller, then chief of staff to IRS commissioner, Nikole Flax, and other IRS officials, “Maybe the solution is to audit so many that it is financially ruinous.” In response, Lerner responded that “it is her job to oversee it all:”
Henry Kerner asked how to get to the abuse of organizations claiming section 501 (c)(4) but designed to be primarily political. Lois Lerner said the system works, but not in real time. Henry Kerner noted that these organizations don’t disclose donors. Lois Lerner said that if they don’t meet the requirements, we can come in and revoke, but it doesn’t happen timely. Nan Marks said if the concern is that organizations engaging in this activity don’t disclose donors, then the system doesn’t work. Henry Kerner said that maybe the solution is to audit so many that it is financially ruinous. Nikole noted that we have budget constraints. Elise Bean suggested using the list of organizations that made independent expenditures. Lois Lerner said that it is her job to oversee it all, not just political campaign activity.
Judicial Watch previously reported on the 2013 meeting. Senator McCain then issued a statement decrying “false reports claiming that his office was somehow involved in IRS targeting of conservative groups.” The IRS previously blacked out the notes of the meeting but Judicial Watch found the notes among subsequent documents released by the agency.
Judicial Watch separately uncovered that Lerner was under significant pressure from both Democrats in Congress and the Obama DOJ and FBI to prosecute and jail the groups the IRS was already improperly targeting. In discussing pressure from Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (Democrat-Rhode Island) to prosecute these “political groups,” Lerner admitted, “it is ALL about 501(c)(4) orgs and political activity.”
The April 30, 2013 meeting came just under two weeks prior to Lerner’s admission during an ABA meeting that the IRS had “inappropriately” targeted conservative groups. In her May 2013 answer to a planted question, in which she admitted to the “absolutely incorrect, insensitive, and inappropriate” targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups, Lerner suggested the IRS targeting occurred due to an “uptick” in 501 (c)(4) applications to the IRS but in actuality, there had been a decrease in such applications in 2010.
On May 14, 2013, a report by Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration revealed: “Early in Calendar Year 2010, the IRS began using inappropriate criteria to identify organizations applying for tax-exempt status” (e.g., lists of past and future donors). The illegal IRS reviews continued “for more than 18 months” and “delayed processing of targeted groups’ applications” in advance of the 2012 presidential election.
All these documents were forced out of the IRS as a result of an October 2013 Judicial Watch Freedom of Information (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the IRS after it failed to respond adequately to four FOIA requests sent in May 2013 (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Internal Revenue Service (No. 1:13-cv-01559)). Judicial Watch is seeking:
- All records related to the number of applications received or related to communications between the IRS and members of the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate regarding the review process for organizations applying for tax exempt status under 501(c)(4);
- All records concerning communications between the IRS and the Executive Branch or any other government agency regarding the review process for organizations applying for tax exempt status under 501(c)(4);
- Copies of any questionnaires and all records related to the preparation of questionnaires sent to organizations applying for 501(c)(4) tax exempt status.
- All records related to Lois Lerner’s communication with other IRS employees, as well as government or private entity outside the IRS regarding the review and approval process for 501 (c)(4) applicant organizations.
“The Obama IRS scandal is bipartisan – McCain and Democrats who wanted to regulate political speech lost at the Supreme Court, so they sought to use the IRS to harass innocent Americans,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The Obama IRS scandal is not over – as Judicial Watch continues to uncover smoking gun documents that raise questions about how the Obama administration weaponized the IRS, the FEC, FBI, and DOJ to target the First Amendment rights of Americans.”
###
Wow.
Just wow.
Barack was not scandal free. What was he? A lucky bastard that the press forever took at his word and never doubted.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, June 22, 2018. THE DAILY BEAST decides to copy PINK NEWS (can
we use the p-term?) without attribution, Moqtada's chief of staff speaks
to the press, and much more.
Tim Teeman has a report that posted an hour or so ago at THE DAILY BEAT and either he or THE BEAST decided that the way to cover Iraq's LGBTQ was with an ISIS hook. I have no idea why. ISIS did kill LGBTQs but even the figures in his article note that this accounted for only 10% of the deaths. The bulk have been, according to Teeman's article, militias (31%).
Killing of LGBTQs in Iraq -- and those suspected of being LGBTQ -- predates the rise of ISIS. Let's drop back to June 1, 2009 to note that day's KPFK's Connect the Dots with Lila Garrett which featured a conversation between Garrett and LA City Council member Bill Rosendahl and the topic was marriage equality:
Let's stay with that day's snapshot for a moment to make sure we're all on the same page:
The State Dept denial noted above came when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. It was considered wiser to ignore it than risk that they might be forced to pull aid from Iraq. US Senator Robert Menendez would run afoul of the Obama administration a few years later when he refused to back down on the human rights abuses carried out by the Iraqi government. It was during that period that the efforts to remove Menendez from office kicked off.
And the human rights abuses of the Iraqi government included the targeting of Iraq's LGBTQ community. As we covered here, this was a Nouri al-Maliki operation. It was his Ministry of the Interior that distributed pamphlets throughout the schools and sent in speakers explaining that these "vampires" must be killed.
To this day, some who paid attention will try to give Nouri cover noting that the Ministry could have acted alone. Yes, it could have. But who was the head of the Ministry?
Nouri al-Maliki. He refused to name a Minister for Parliament to confirm because he wanted to control the Ministry of Interior.
Nouri was prime minister and he was in charge of the Ministry.
The Ministry had been in place for almost seven years before that and it had a lousy reputation; however, it was not known for going into schools with presentations calling for students to kill.
Nouri, of course, insisted that was not what they were doing. AL MADA and ALSUMARIA had covered the story before his denial. Too bad for Nouri, they were then able to produce the documents handed out by the Ministry to the students. They were calling for the murder of anyone suspected of being gay and they were referring to them as "vampires."
That's Nouri. That's the Iraqi government at that time. And the US State Dept, in April of 2009, didn't want to risk being forced to cut off funding to Iraq or US troops being removed from Iraq.
From Tim Teeman's report this morning:
Rana from Babylon said: “I will die without anyone knowing that I was a lesbian. All the feelings I have, and all the girls I had crushes on will remain secrets I will take with me to my grave. I don’t think I will ever live to see an Iraq that welcomes people like me.”
Mazin, a gay man living in Baghdad, told IraQueer in January 2018: “I escaped my family’s home six months ago. My dad is a police officer and he found out that I am gay. He’s been threatening to kill me since then. I’ve been staying at my friend’s house since, and rarely go out.”
Rawa, a 26-year-old gay man, said he was unable to keep his job because of sexual harassment and violence. “I was raped by my boss when I was working as a barista. He then threatened that he will report me to the police if I said anything. I had no choice but to escape.”
Hana, who is 31 years old and lives in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, said: “Every day I spend with my husband, another part of me dies. My father forced me to marry my cousin. I no longer recognize myself in the mirror.”
Members of the trans community face particular danger “simply by existing,” the report said. Hormone treatments are not legal and so make transitioning even more dangerous. Gender confirmation surgery is not permitted by the law, and if people manage to have the surgery outside the country, they face difficulties obtaining legal documents that reflect their gender identity.
Tim Teeman has a report that posted an hour or so ago at THE DAILY BEAT and either he or THE BEAST decided that the way to cover Iraq's LGBTQ was with an ISIS hook. I have no idea why. ISIS did kill LGBTQs but even the figures in his article note that this accounted for only 10% of the deaths. The bulk have been, according to Teeman's article, militias (31%).
Killing of LGBTQs in Iraq -- and those suspected of being LGBTQ -- predates the rise of ISIS. Let's drop back to June 1, 2009 to note that day's KPFK's Connect the Dots with Lila Garrett which featured a conversation between Garrett and LA City Council member Bill Rosendahl and the topic was marriage equality:
Bill
Rosendahl: . . . we're not equal in America today. We're not equal
anywhere on the earth. In fact, I put a motion in last week on the
council about the outrage in going on Iraq right now. While we have
130,000 troops there, spending billions of dollars, killing a lot of
local people, that gay people are being round up and murdered. Over 600
have been documented and we're there watching it happen. And it's just
outrageous and our president should get up and show some real leadership
and, frankly, say, "Look, we're in Iraq to create freedom there and
democracy and gay people are not going to be any more murdered just
because they're gay." And that's what's going on -- tortured and
murdered. And so, we suffer as gay people all over the planet. We have
a better life here in American and in the west than a lot of gay people
have in other parts of the planet. They're literally killed for their
realities but here in the States we still don't have our basic civil
rights. I mean, when is our president going to get up and talk about
Don't Ask, Don't Tell? Our people are in the military. They're thrown
out of the military. He promised us that, I'm expecting real leadership
out of him. And I must say I am disappointed. He has not taken the
leadership seriously enough. I don't like what he's doing in
Afghanistan and Pakistan, I don't like what he's continuing to do in
Iraq. He better not get to boisterous about North Korea and Iran. You
know, he should focus on our infrastructure, our education and bring
peace to the planet, not more imperial war.
Lila Garrett: Wait a minute. 600 gay people were murdered? By whom?
Bill Rosendahl: 600 gay people in Iraq were murdered by --
Lila Garrett: By?
Bill
Rosendahl: -- family and by folks within the militia who see gay people
out in the street being more public. They round us up and then they
kill us. And then there's an incredible torture mechanism that they do
which I don't really want to say on the air but it's just disgusting how
they end up putting us to death and to know about it from international
gay and lesbian groups and to know our government knows it's going on
and has said nothing about it, to me, is outrageous and I want our
president to show some real leadership on this.
Lila
Garrett: Yeah, but I really have to know, these 600 murdered people,
you say by families and militia, are you talking about the American
militia
Bill
Rosendahl: No. No, no, no. No, I'm talking about several, what I
consider, perversions of the Koran. There are people who believe in
Mohammad that also believe to be gay is wrong and that 'honor' murders
can take place. So some of it is literally families killing their own.
And others are groups that are just part of the community who single out
young gay men because they figure they are gay and kill them. They
literally kill us.
Lila Garrett: Are you saying, that this is happening in Iraq or is happening in Iran?
Bill Rosendahl: This is happening in Iraq as we're talking right now, Lila.
Lila Garrett: By Iraqis?
Bill Rosendahl: By Iraqis.
Lila Garrett: And the United States is not stopping it?
Bill Rosendahl: It is not stopping it.
Lila Garrett: This is unbelievable.
Bill Rosendahl: It is unbelievable. It's outrageous. It is a living hell for my folks over there.
Lila Garrett: I don't understand why this isn't the story in the United States.
Bill
Rosendahl: Well because the American media is so perverted. They spend
all this time about Miss America and all that at the same time this is
going on over there. They spend more time on trivia here than they do
on real stories. They spent some quality time on that young lady that
was in Iran that was arrested as a spy who was a reporter. But this
particular issue has gotten no press, mainstream press, it has gotten a
lot of other press and there's a lot of e-mails that are circulated and
the gay and lesbian international groups have documented it, have gone
over there and are the ones who first brought it to my attention. And
that's why I brought it to the attention of my colleagues on the City
Council and we unanimously passed a resolution. In fact, my chief of
staff Mike Bonahma was with the vice president of the United States the
next day, Joe Biden, because he was one of the early Obama supporters,
and mentioned it to him, handed him the resolution and as Biden left the
room, he said, "I'll get back to you on it." So hopefully our president
will show real leadership and show an outrage to this.
Lila Garrett: Let's not hold our breath before Obama shows real leadership.
Bill Rosendahl: I know.
Lila
Garrett: I want to get back to these 600 gay people that have been
murdered. By the Iraqis -- by whom among the Iraqis? By the Sunnis?
Bill
Rosendahl: No, no, no. I'm talking about family. I'm talking about
just the militias and the insurgents in general. They consider this
[being gay] wrong and a murderous act and they literally kill us. And
when the numbers started to become hundreds -- and now it's over 600
documented -- that's when it was brought to my attention. In fact, one
of the international leaders of the gay group read a letter that was
sent to him by a 25-year-old gay man who was in that threatened
position. So we're trying to raise the awareness out there, the public
awareness, and you're helping with that, Lila, by putting it on your
show.
Let's stay with that day's snapshot for a moment to make sure we're all on the same page:
As noted May 15th, "Ruben Vives (Los Angeles Times) reports
that the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to
approve Council Rep Bill Rosendahl's 'resolution calling for federal
legislation urging the Iraqi government to prevent the persecution of
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people'." Lila noted that the
segment was taped ahead of time so, for perspective, the resolution
passed May 15th. This year, the targeting's been noted here first in
more on the issue, you can see this snapshot, this entry and the roundtable Friday night ["Roundtable on Iraq," "Roundtabling Iraq," "the roundtable," "Iraq," "Iraq in the Kitchen," "Roundtable on Iraq," "Talking Iraq," "Iraq," "Talking Iraq roundtable" and "Iraq roundtable"]
That's going back to the start of April and it is not true that the MSM
has ignored it. They could do a lot more but they have covered it and
where there has been no amplification is in Panhandle Media which appears to feel it's a 'niche' story to be left to the LGBT media. In April, Wisam Mohammed and Khalid al-Ansary (Reuters) and Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN), the Dallas Morning News, UPI and AFP reported on it. Michael Riley (Denver Post) covered the story and covered US House Rep Jared Polis' work on the issue (which included visiting Iraq), PDF format warning, click here for his letter to Patricia A. Butenis. Polis is quoted at his website stating,
"The United States should not tolerate human rights violations of nay
kind, especially by a government that Americans spend billions of
taxpayer dollars each year supporting. Hopefully my trip and letters to
US and Iraqi officials will help bring international attention and
investigation to this terrible situation and bring an end to any such
offenses." For the New York Times, Timothy Williams and Tareq Maher's "Iraq's Newly Open Gays Face Scorn and Murder" covered the topic. BBC News offered "Fears over Iraq gay killing spate." The Denver Post offered an editorial entitled "Killing
of gay Iraqis shouldn't be ignored: We applaud Rep. Jared Polis for his
efforts last week to shine the spotlight on the killings of homosexuals
in Iraq," Nigel Morris offered "Iraqi leaders attacked over spate of homophobic murders" (Independent of London), the Telegraph of London covers the issue here. Neal Broverman (The Advocate), Jessica Green (UK's Pink News), and Doug Ireland covered it (here's one report by Ireland at GayCityNews -- he's filed more than one report), AFP reported
on it again when signs went up throughout Sadr City with statements
such as "We will punish you, perverts" and "We will get you, puppies"
(puppies is slang for gay men in Iraq) and Liz Sly (Los Angeles Times) reported on that as well. Chris Johnson offered "Polis seeks to aid Iraqis: Says gays 'fear for their life and limb' after fact-finding trip to Baghdad" (Washington Blade), Killian Melloy (The Edge
-- this is the April 2nd story that contains the State Dept stating
it's not happening -- the denial) and [PDF formart warning] the April
15th "Iraq Status Report" by the US State Dept notes the killings. Amnesty International weighed in as did the International Gay and lesiban Human Rights Campaign. Jim Muir (BBC News -- text and video) reported on the targeting and the attacks. UK Gay News covered it, last week ABC News offered Mazin Faiq's "Tortured and Killed in Iraq for Being Gay" Chicago Pride and UPI covered the latest deaths last week. And AFP and Jessica Green (UK's Pink News)
covered the public statement from Moqtada al-Sadr about how they needed
to be "eradicated" for "depravity" and he thinks they can be 'taught'
not to be gay. As for the technique, Bill Rosendahl didn't want to discuss on air Doug Ireland (ZNet) reported on that in May:
As
the murder campaign targeting Iraqi gays intensifies, a leading Arabic
television network last week revealed the use of a horrifying new form
of lethal torture against Iraqi gay men -- anti-gay Shiite death squads
are sealing their anuses with a powerful glue, then inducing diarrhea,
which leads to a painful and agonizing death. The use of this
stomach-turning new torture was first reported by the Al Arabiya
network, which is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates and was
alerted to the story by a leading Iraqi feminist and human rights
activist.
Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), told Al Arabiya that the torture substance "is an Iranian-manufactured glue that, if applied to the skin, sticks to it and can only be removed by surgery. After they glue the anuses of homosexuals, they give them a drink that causes diarrhea. Since the anus is closed, the diarrhea causes death. Videos of this form of torture are being distributed on mobile telephones in Iraq." Al Arabiya said its reporter confirmed the use of this anal torture by "visiting the Baghdad morgue in Bab-al-Moazaam in central Baghdad, where Neman Mohsen, the medical examiner, confirmed they have the bodies of seven homosexuals in the morgue. He said, 'We were not able to identify the culprits, who dumped the bodies in front of the morgue and fled without being seen.'" A two-person team from Human Rights Watch (HRW) currently in Iraq to investigate persecution of LGBT people has also confirmed the use of this form of torture. In a widely-circulated email from Iraq, the head of HRW's LGBT desk, Scott Long, said he and his colleague had gathered evidence which confirms the Al Arabiya report and that HRW would make its own detailed report after the organization's two staffers return to the United States next week.
Yanar Mohammed, president of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), told Al Arabiya that the torture substance "is an Iranian-manufactured glue that, if applied to the skin, sticks to it and can only be removed by surgery. After they glue the anuses of homosexuals, they give them a drink that causes diarrhea. Since the anus is closed, the diarrhea causes death. Videos of this form of torture are being distributed on mobile telephones in Iraq." Al Arabiya said its reporter confirmed the use of this anal torture by "visiting the Baghdad morgue in Bab-al-Moazaam in central Baghdad, where Neman Mohsen, the medical examiner, confirmed they have the bodies of seven homosexuals in the morgue. He said, 'We were not able to identify the culprits, who dumped the bodies in front of the morgue and fled without being seen.'" A two-person team from Human Rights Watch (HRW) currently in Iraq to investigate persecution of LGBT people has also confirmed the use of this form of torture. In a widely-circulated email from Iraq, the head of HRW's LGBT desk, Scott Long, said he and his colleague had gathered evidence which confirms the Al Arabiya report and that HRW would make its own detailed report after the organization's two staffers return to the United States next week.
The State Dept denial noted above came when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. It was considered wiser to ignore it than risk that they might be forced to pull aid from Iraq. US Senator Robert Menendez would run afoul of the Obama administration a few years later when he refused to back down on the human rights abuses carried out by the Iraqi government. It was during that period that the efforts to remove Menendez from office kicked off.
And the human rights abuses of the Iraqi government included the targeting of Iraq's LGBTQ community. As we covered here, this was a Nouri al-Maliki operation. It was his Ministry of the Interior that distributed pamphlets throughout the schools and sent in speakers explaining that these "vampires" must be killed.
To this day, some who paid attention will try to give Nouri cover noting that the Ministry could have acted alone. Yes, it could have. But who was the head of the Ministry?
Nouri al-Maliki. He refused to name a Minister for Parliament to confirm because he wanted to control the Ministry of Interior.
Nouri was prime minister and he was in charge of the Ministry.
The Ministry had been in place for almost seven years before that and it had a lousy reputation; however, it was not known for going into schools with presentations calling for students to kill.
Nouri, of course, insisted that was not what they were doing. AL MADA and ALSUMARIA had covered the story before his denial. Too bad for Nouri, they were then able to produce the documents handed out by the Ministry to the students. They were calling for the murder of anyone suspected of being gay and they were referring to them as "vampires."
That's Nouri. That's the Iraqi government at that time. And the US State Dept, in April of 2009, didn't want to risk being forced to cut off funding to Iraq or US troops being removed from Iraq.
From Tim Teeman's report this morning:
Rana from Babylon said: “I will die without anyone knowing that I was a lesbian. All the feelings I have, and all the girls I had crushes on will remain secrets I will take with me to my grave. I don’t think I will ever live to see an Iraq that welcomes people like me.”
Mazin, a gay man living in Baghdad, told IraQueer in January 2018: “I escaped my family’s home six months ago. My dad is a police officer and he found out that I am gay. He’s been threatening to kill me since then. I’ve been staying at my friend’s house since, and rarely go out.”
Rawa, a 26-year-old gay man, said he was unable to keep his job because of sexual harassment and violence. “I was raped by my boss when I was working as a barista. He then threatened that he will report me to the police if I said anything. I had no choice but to escape.”
Hana, who is 31 years old and lives in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, said: “Every day I spend with my husband, another part of me dies. My father forced me to marry my cousin. I no longer recognize myself in the mirror.”
Members of the trans community face particular danger “simply by existing,” the report said. Hormone treatments are not legal and so make transitioning even more dangerous. Gender confirmation surgery is not permitted by the law, and if people manage to have the surgery outside the country, they face difficulties obtaining legal documents that reflect their gender identity.
96% of #LGBTI #Iraqis Face Physical or Verbal Violence. A new report, released by the group #IraQueer, has revealed the state of LGBT rights in #Iraq. It found 96% of LGBT Iraqis have faced physical or verbal violence because of their sexuality or gender… buff.ly/2tdGlSQ
Ronny, a gay Christian refugee from Mosul, Iraq, looks out at the city skyline. After being sexually harassed by his work colleagues, he moved to an LGBT shelter in Istanbul. Ronny, 32, has faced other discriminatory acts in Turkey, including being beat up by eight people on…
We are officially releasing our baseline study highlighting the situation of the LGBT+ community in Iraq. Read more about the report in this interview with #IraQueer.
Eve Hartley reported on the survey four days ago for PINK NEWS and, interesting, she didn't feel the need to use ISIS as a hook.
Members of the trans community in
particular face extreme danger simply by existing in Iraq. In
particular danger are those who choose to undergo hormone treatment and
show physical changes.
As hormone treatments and sex
operations are not legal in Iraq, transitioning is even more dangerous
for those individuals. People who manage to undergo the surgery outside
of Iraq face the difficulties in obtaining legal documents that reflect
their post surgical identity.
Hmmm. That's strangely similar to what Tim wrote this for morning for THE DAILY BEAST:
Members of the trans community face particular danger “simply by existing,” the report said. Hormone treatments are not legal and so make transitioning even more dangerous. Gender confirmation surgery is not permitted by the law, and if people manage to have the surgery outside the country, they face difficulties obtaining legal documents that reflect their gender identity.
Strangely similar.
Eva and PINK NEWS cover it and then THE DAILY BEAST and Tim 'borrow' from it four days later.
Let's move on to another topic, Turkey's continued attacks on Iraq.
Statements by undisclosed Iraqi sources talked about an understanding between Baghdad and Ankara on Turkey pursuing the PKK inside Iraqi territory. Turkey has touted the reported agreement, but Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, have adamantly denied one exists.
Saad al-Hadithi, spokesman for the prime minister's office, said Turkey's statements about launching military operations in Iraq are politically motivated as Erdogan is trying to impress voters before the June 24 elections.
“Turkey wants the Turkish citizens to vote in favor of the Turkish president in the elections,” Hadithi told Al-Monitor. “The Iraqi government will not allow Turkish forces to invade its territory under any pretext. It warned Turkey not to do so. The entry of Turkish troops into the Iraqi territory is a violation of sovereignty.”
While Baghdad is openly rejecting the Turkish incursion, silence prevails in the KRG.
The KRG — which fought a war against the PKK in the 1990s — doesn't mind Turkey's military action against the Kurdish militant group, said Nawzad Hasan, a political analyst at Al-Sabah Iraqi newspaper and a former professor at Salahuddin University-Erbil.
KRG spokesman Sven Dzi told Al-Monitor, "The KRG had called on the PKK months ago to leave the Kurdistan region territory, to deny Turkey any pretext for its invasion.”
Though Iraq clearly rejects any military action without its consent, Hasan told Al-Monitor that Baghdad isn't in a position to stop Turkish incursions right now, given the internal turmoil over Iraq's recent elections.
Q.M. - Why did he distance himself from Iraqi Shia politicians?
D.A. - Moqtada left the Shia coalition
because he didn't trust al-Maliki. And above all he wanted to change our
relations with our neighbours. We fought the US intervention in Iraq,
but that didn't mean we had to put up with the presence of Iranians,
Turks or other Arabs on our soil. It is positive to have good relations
with one's neighbours, but that doesn't mean those countries should
interfere in our affairs.
Q.M. - Have you carried out surveys among your followers to make
sure your new positions won't cause a split in the Sadrist movement?
D.A. - Our movement involves three
different levels. There is Moqtada, the leader, there is an "elite" -
though I wouldn't call us that, rather we are intermediaries, civic
advisers, like myself; and then there are the grassroots followers, who
trust him implicitly.
There was no need to take a survey or negotiate with them, because whatever he decides, they will go along with it. Sometimes we advisers will get together with him and negotiate, pointing out different possible directions we could take, but the final choice is his. Before making a decision, Moqtar al-Sadr consults with those who are closest to him, in Iraq and abroad.
There was no need to take a survey or negotiate with them, because whatever he decides, they will go along with it. Sometimes we advisers will get together with him and negotiate, pointing out different possible directions we could take, but the final choice is his. Before making a decision, Moqtar al-Sadr consults with those who are closest to him, in Iraq and abroad.
Q.M. - But still, isn't it a little odd to have
made an alliance with communists and liberals, often viewed in Iraq as
"atheists"?
D.A. - In 2015, we took to the streets
alongside representatives of the very few other parties involved in the
anti-corruption demonstrations, and we realised we had a common goal, a
peaceful one: Reforming the political system.
And so Moqtada al-Sadr broached the question: Why not join our efforts and form a single coalition? Some thought such a coalition couldn't last because of our ideological differences. Sometimes contradictions do arise, but our goal was not to discuss what divides us but rather our common objectives.
And so Moqtada al-Sadr broached the question: Why not join our efforts and form a single coalition? Some thought such a coalition couldn't last because of our ideological differences. Sometimes contradictions do arise, but our goal was not to discuss what divides us but rather our common objectives.
The following community sites -- Jody Watley -- updated:
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